Cupid Never Misses His Arrow
by XxijiexX
Summary: "Cupid never misses his arrow. Face the fact Mikan, you have been shot." His gaze bore into hers as she saw the corners of his lips curled up into a smirk. Mikan gritted her teeth and looked away furiously. Her hands were still in his. ' It won't be that easy, Hyuuga. Even cherub sometimes shoot the wrong person,' her mind bit off.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: obviously I do not Gakuen alice or the characters.

Anyways, happy reading!

_One tip to fall in love: Don't_

_-twitter_

'Ding dong!'

The bell chimed whenever someone walked in. A certain girl with long dark hair looked up and smiled. "Welcome!"

She was at the left side of the café, wiping the table that one of their customers had used and left awhile ago. When she saw it was Mrs. Philsbury who just came in,she beamed and rushed to attend to her needs at the counter. Mrs. Philsbury was their regular customer, a middle aged woman with slightly curled orange hair and a plump looking body. She just started working here at this cute little café she found last week and even if she was new, she could tell good people when she sees one and Mrs. Philsbury was so nice and friendly towards her that she didn't have second thoughts towards her at all.

"Morning, Mrs. Philsbury! What can I get for you today?" she smiled.

The corners of her lips curled up into a warm smile. "Morning to you too, Mikan. You know what I always order. The same as every single day."

She laughed and smiled back at her. "Of course. The usual, coming right up!"

She went to the back and gave Anna the order before she came out again to have a little chat with Mrs. Philsbury. She liked the little talk they had. She was telling her about her little grandson's tantrum, throwing his milk bottle to her husbands's head where it finally ended up her taking her husband to the emergency room. His head was swollen. Fortunately, there was no crack. Mrs. Philsbury had a jolly good laugh about it when she told Mikan about the incident. She found it rather funny but her husband thought otherwise, which where Mikan found funny instead. Mrs. Philsbury looked bliss, Mikan was glad.

When the order came up, Mikan handed Mrs. Philsbury her order and returned her the balance. With a goodbye wave, Mrs. Philsbury finally disappeared through the door making the bell chimed again.

The staffs were kinda short handed right now. Sumirei was running late. She had missed her train and when she did catch her train, she ended up exited at the wrong platform. Sometimes, Mikan wondered how the green haired girl can find her way home. And Nonoko was out, buying the ingredients and other stuff. Only Mikan and Anna were left. Anna was always in charge of the food and drinks, so she stayed at the back most of the time. Hence, Mikan's the one who had to run between two works right now. More like three works; taking orders, clean the tables and managing the counter.

But thank God it's still early in the morning now. She's more than thankful to the lazy bums who refused to wake up early. Hence the fewer customers she had to handle now. If its lunch time where the place often got crowded and with the short hands they got, Mikan would be dead even before lunch break was over.

Mikan was about to head back to the left side of the café and continued the work where she had left before, with the wiping tables when the bell chimed again. She plastered yet another welcoming smile on her face but when she saw who it was, the smile ended up as a scowl. She cursed under her breath. The lad was the least she wanted to see right now.

Walked in a raven haired guy with tousled and messy hair (did he even own a comb at his place?), wearing a black v-neck shirt and a pair of khaki shorts matched with a pair of Nike sneakers. Around his neck, a chain with a ring was dangling halfway down to his chest. He was lanky but muscular. He had a pair of gladiator shades on and when he took it off; revealing a pair of alluring crimson eyes, a smirk played on his lips. His gaze met hers.

Mikan thought of 101 ways of destroying that face of his. Slash it over and over again with a knife seemed like a good idea but maybe, she needed to grow her nails longer so she could scratch him instead. That idea seemed to be appealing because for sure, she would get self satisfaction to be able to do that with her own hands. Honestly, she had never met someone as cocky as him! This dumbass thought he's so good and superior than anyone else made her teeth clattered in annoyance. And what's worst was, he thought everyone else would fall for his good looks made Mikan want to barf on his face. He's rude, commanding, cocky, and shallow and every other negative words you could find in the dictionary to describe a person. That also includes narcissist!

But still, he was still a customer. And a customer pays money. 'Money is important. Money is important. Do it for money,' her mind repeatedly said. So, what the hell anyway? 'He's a paying customer, so just do your job Mikan,' her mind hissed.

"Welcome." No smile appeared on her face. Instead, an annoyed expression was portrayed.

"What can I get for you?" Cold voice.

"The usual."

"We don't have anything that named 'the usual' in our menu."

"You sure you wanna play with me, Polka?" he mused, leaning closer to her over the counter.

Mikan gritted her teeth in annoyance. "Coming right up."

He smirked, put on his shades and walked down the aisle towards the leftmost of the café, pulled out a chair at a small table by the window and plopped down. He leaned against his seat and crossed his arms on his chest. He was watching her. Even if his eyes were hidden behind those gay looking shades, she knew he was watching her from his seat.

Mikan's eyes twitched involuntarily. Suddenly she remembered how she first met him. She swore she had never found peace at all after that. That bastard!

Flashback

_It was still in the summer and it was Friday. She usually finished work late on Friday. Well, since its Friday we're talking about, everyone was lazy to cook or bored to death at home to sit down at the family table and had a nice family dinner, so everyone wanted to eat out, have fun and blah blah! Hence all the tiresome she got after the work._

"_Everyone is enjoying their Fridays but I had to work my ass off on Friday. Jeez," she mumbled alone. She was walking home from work with a stiff shoulder and a pain back when the rain started to pouring down._

_She cursed under her breath. Too tired and lethargic to run for a shelter, Mikan just continued dragging her feet, walking idly under the rain. She had taken the train to return to her apartment so it would be just a ten minutes walk from the platform back to her place. She didn't mind that. She liked the long walk._

'_Today is definitely not my lucky day. First I had to mop the barf on the floor at the café, one kid spilled his freaking coke on my shirt and now the weather is raining on my parade. I mean, come on, it's summer! Why the heck does it even rain here!? Surely it could get far worst than this,' she thought and she stared grimly at the sky._

_Her wet hair dripping on the floor, leaving trails after her, her clothes drenched to the skin and completely clad to her body. Ignored everything else, she made her way to the elevator when she finally reached her apartment building. She continues humming a song as she waited for the elevator to come, not realizing a person was standing behind her back, also waiting for the lift to come down._

_The guy had not noticed it at first but when he finally did, he couldn't help himself from feeling amused of what he was seeing. Surely the girl did realize it, right? She would be a bloody idiot if she didn't. She had walked from the door to the elevator; people must have stared at her. She must had felt very uncomfortable with the stares. Come on, she must had realized it!_

_The particular guy cleared his throat, just to make sure the girl in front of him was fully aware the there's someone else too waiting for the elevator. It was just the two of them, the girl finally realized. So feeling embarrassed, she stopped humming._

_But that's all. Nothing else._

_The guy was expecting her to do what he thought she would do, well, probably she would __**frantically**__ do. But she didn't. 'So this idiot didn't really know, huh?' he thought amusingly. A smirk appeared on his handsome face._

_The lift finally came down and the door opened. There was nobody inside. The girl walked in, followed by the guy but the guy made his way to the back instead, not bothered to push the button to his floor. 'She lives on the same floor as me,' he humorously thought when he saw her awkwardly pushing the button to her floor. She thought it was a silence yet awkward trip she ever had to travel up to her floor._

_When the number on the screen finally showed 35, she couldn't help but feel relief. She felt awkward with the guy but found it nothing odd since he didn't do anything else, except for being silent like a ghost. Only his presence was felt behind her back. When the door opened, she was about to step outside first, when the guy suddenly cut her off from the back, passing through her like he was dashing out but then, he halted just outside the door, turned around and held the door open with his arms, stopping it from closing._

_She had not seen him clearly when they were waiting for the elevator nor did she look at him when they were in the elevator together. She's too tired to pay attention to anything else right now. But now that she finally saw, the guy was dark haired with a pair of crimson eyes. A smirk was playing on his lips as his gaze landed on her. She furrowed her face in return._

"_I thought they're supposed to __**be bigger**__ than that," he said and paused for a moment as he titled his head to one side, as if he was thinking of something. "But I never thought that they would be __**that small**__. Is that even possible?"_

_She furrowed her eyebrows even more, not understand of what he just said._

"_Pardon?" she asked quizzically. What on earth was this guy rambling about?!_

"_But nice color though. I mean, the pattern is really classy. Polka dots are in the season eh?" he asked again, this time, sarcastically._

_The girl's eyes blinked and her face suddenly became pale. She slowly lowered her gaze and hoped that it wasn't what she think would be like. When her gaze finally landed on them, her face burned scarlet red. She quickly covered her breast with her arms._

_That 'they' he was referring to, was her breast?!_

_She was wearing a white shirt and black pencil skirt. Now with the shirt became wet and clad to her body, even with a camisole on, her __**bra**__ still visible to one's eyes. _

_**Her black and white polka dots bra**__._

_She thought of dying that instant. Would the angles in heaven wanted to accept her? Then again, she thought the devils in hell would be more than thrill to have her on the team. Because right now, she would really like a knife or the least, a machine gun or a bazooka from the hell to kill the guy in front of her now._

_When she heard a low chuckle, she looked up and stared daggers at him._

_The nerve._

"_Well, see you around, Polka." He smirked, waved her goodbye and disappeared to the right._

_She bit her inner mouth, biting every anger and embarrassments. When it didn't help, she cursed loudly at him. "Dammit you asshole pervert!"_

End of flashback.

And every since then, they kept bumping into each other. Was it coincidentally or planned, Mikan didn't want to know, or rather, she refused to know. That would only make her suffered more.

It's not enough they lived on the same floor, but now he knew where she worked and he came just to piss her off, with the annoying smirk of his and the names he was calling her. And what's worst was, her co-workers seemed to fall for those lame tricks of his! Anna, Nonoko and Sumirei all thought he was cool with hotness overload, chocolate melt dripping hot. She wanted to barf whenever she heard them squealing about him. She may need some painkillers next time. Not for her, but for her friends, whenever Mikan felt like hitting their heads—or maybe shoot with a gun instead—to knock in some senses into their fried-already-brainwashed brain.

'The cupid sure has his own funny way to shoot people with his arrow love. Who would want to be in love with that asshole pervert like that psycho?' Mikan thought in displeased as she returned his stares with an extremely annoyed look on her face and made her way to the back to leave Anna another order.

To be continued.

A/N : feel weird why Mikan has dark hair? There's an acceptable reason for that. So stay tune if you wanna know!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: obviously I do not Gakuen alice or the characters.

Sorry for the late update.

Anyways, happy reading!

_I find you very attractive. Therefore, I shall stare at you._

_-twitter_

A certain raven haired guy watched a particular girl at the counter with deep interest as his crimson eyes followed her every moves behind his Oakley shades. He had made it as his new routine to visit the Chibi Café every morning during this summer, that was if he could make his way out of his bed voluntarily and so far, he managed to do it just fine. He wasn't really a morning riser to begin with but at least, he had something interesting to do every morning. At least that should count as something to stimulate him or taken as a special reason for him to wake up early every morning.

But most importantly, it's only early in the morning when the café was hardly packed with people that she could notice his presence there. If not, she didn't even notice he was in the same room as her. Blasted the people. He couldn't understand why it was so bloody packed every lunch breaks. It's not like there weren't any other places for them to dine. And it's only a café for crying out loud! They didn't serve heavy food that you should get for lunch. So why the hell did they raid this place in the first place? Especially the idiotic species which he, himself was embarrassed to be placed in the same group with.

He had been watching. Oh how he had been silently watching since last week. And every time, his eyes always twitched in annoyance and his knuckles were having a hard time hiding under the table, furiously flexing. He didn't really care if the male customers were squinting hard to stare at the pink haired girl at the back of the café or flickered with special interest at the girl with blue hair who took their orders or even the green one who stood behind the counter. Heck, he didn't give a damn about any of them at all.

But he couldn't stand when he caught some of them goggled their eyes at the dark haired one. He felt like they needed black eyes for early Christmas presents. He wouldn't mind if Santa labeled him as a bad kid for that.

"Natsume," a blonde haired lad who sat next to him, called out his best friend's name, causing him to lose his train of thoughts. "If you keep staring at her, she would call the cops and sue you for sexual harassments."

"I'm not staring at her," Natsume lied, not bothered to turn his attention to his best friend. However, he did manage to look away from the person of his interest.

"Yeah and I'm not half French," Ruka said sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

"I'm not staring at her!" his voice went a bit higher than necessary.

Ruka stifled a laugh, knowing his best friend too darn well than he even needed to. "Idiot, you totally were, don't deny it. Even with your glasses on, I could tell."

Natsume turned his full attention to Ruka and sighed in defeat. "Seriously Ruka, you could just play along, you know. It won't hurt my man pride a little if you didn't say stuff like knowing me too well and all that craps. I couldn't do anything secretly with you kept telling me all that mushy stuff!"

Ruka laughed. "Mushy? I was just slapping you with reality check, Natsume. Who else would do that job for you, if it's not me, your own best friend? Honestly, I had never seen you looked so pathetic."

Pathetic? Natsume gnashed his teeth at him, only to get yet another laugh coming out from his so-called-supportive-best friend's mouth.

"You want me to go and talk to her? She seems to be in a good terms with me." Ruka looked at her across the room. She was attending a customer's need. Looking at the small note and a pen she was holding, she's probably taking his order. Even from this far, Ruka could tell the boy, or a guy—or was it a man? He didn't know—possibly two or three years older than her, flickered his eyes with interest at her.

He had to admit, that girl named Mikan was definitely someone worth to look twice or more than a few times if she walked down the hallway. He didn't really really looked much at her, like really accessing how her features looked like from up close or how tall she was or even how much angle did her lips curled up when she smiled. But all the while, from a man's view, Ruka knew she was beautiful. Cute maybe. But something about her felt a little bit off. He couldn't put it to what.

But that's only a small gut that said. Since he wasn't really sure what it was, he decided to just ignore it. At least, she treated him nicely. Well, compared to how she treated Natsume, he would say, she treated him better than most. Natsume got most of her cold shoulder. Hmm, not most. Assumably, _entirely_.

"Why would you want to do that?" Natsume asked dubiously.

"Well, seeing that she gave you the cold shoulder, I thought I may lend you a hand. It's not always a girl turned you down." Ruka paused for a moment. "Eh hang on. It's not '_not always'_. It's never! This never happens before in your entire history!" He exclaimed in disbelief, as he realized it.

"Forget it. I'm not really interested in her."

Ruka stared at him in disbelief, as if he was telling him he was gay. "Did you hear what you were saying? Or did you really have lost all the control over your mouth?"

"I'm serious."

Ruka felt like laughing out loud and rolled with his hands clenched his stomach, on the floor right now.

"Dude, I never trust you to be alone by yourself when you're not hanging out with me, especially during summer. I gotta feeling that _she's worth your summer_. Better than those who come and go from your room."

Natsume frowned. "You made me sound like I'm a bastard who slept with each of those girls."

"A lil bit of touching here and there did count as something, right? Even if it wasn't counted as sleeping nude together or having sex."

"Dude, you're too obvious with your choices of words!" Natsume hissed.

Ruka lifted one of his perfect honey blonde eyebrows at his friend. "You know, I don't give a crap about that as long as you understand what I'm saying."

Natsume ruffled his already tousled hair. "Jeez Ruka, sometimes I just wish you would turn back to your 10 years old again, all innocent and ignorant about all these."

"Well, sorry to break it to you but I grew. That happened to all of us. Hormones started to kick in and movies played a major role in helping _a lot of things_ these days. And you, too. So don't give me that crap about me being the only one. You're far more worst than me!" Ruka remarked.

"You can't put the blame fully on me. They're the ones who came to me voluntarily. I need some entertainment and they happened to always come at the right time. I didn't touch any of them. If you ask me, the girls were the ones who seemed to enjoy touching me," Natsume explained.

"And what's worst, you let them, you moron! Find other ways to entertain yourself!"

The corner of Natsume's lips curled up to form a lazy smile. "I got bored easily. You know how it is."

Ruka stayed silent for awhile. Drag it. Natsume seriously needed to let go of his old habits. And he's not even working as a host! Why the heck did he go to that extend to fill his fun? Ruka knew better. Natsume Hyuuga's his best friend after all. He wouldn't be if he didn't know him damn well. And he was more than glad that this summer, so far, his best friend didn't spend his time in his room, with those women whom he hardly knew their names.

"Then, go and play with her." Ruka pointed one finger at the long dark haired girl who was now carrying a tray of drinks with one hand. "I doubted she would come to you voluntarily. I'm freaking sure of that. Hence all the fun since its bloody challenging, don't you think?"

Natsume quirked one brow at him.

Ruka looked at him with a steady gaze. "I'm merely suggesting it. Plus, I knew you're already half interested in her." When he sensed Natsume's about to demur, he quickly added. "But knowing you, I know you're just being funk. You too want it. You just want someone to voice out the idea so you could innocently make it sound as if someone else's suggested it instead of your own neediness. That's quite a nice cowardly trick, if I must say."

Natsume took off his glasses and scowled at him. "What are you now, a sarcastically mind reader psychiatrist, Nogi?"

Ruka snickered. "I'm just making a statement. You're just too afraid to admit it. You're a pussy, Hyuuga."

Natsume rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yeah, so I'm interested in her. So what's about it?"

"I didn't say anything is wrong about it," Ruka replied in as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

"Then, what's with all the long crappy speech and the twisted mind reading you did on me?"

Ruka's lips formed a small smile as his eyes twinkled with humor. "It's for fun. And self satisfaction; a proof that says I still knew where to poke or prick you on the right spot."

Natsume stayed silent. Thinking of something probably, Ruka thought. He doubted it had something to do with counter attack of his words. Maybe it was hard for other people to get into his mind but to him, Natsume Hyuuga was like an open book. They had been friends since elementary. It's impossible to just ignore everything that played inside his head. Especially when he knew exactly what it was.

"Sooo..what do you think I should do?" his low voice slowly came.

Ruka picked up his cup of English Breakfast Tea to his mouth to hide his smile. _Exactly like he thought he would say_. "Don't ask me. I don't want to get involved in your endeavors." He was playing with words and Natsume didn't even notice about it.

"You're not being supportive." Natsume scowled.

"I don't get why you're asking me this. You never seek any advice from me concerning this kind of topic. It is interesting though." Ruka had to fight the urge to smile. But he put on his best straight face.

"I don't know, she's not the usual type I have around me, I guess."

"But she's still a girl. She has that estrogen hormones running in her body just like any other normal human girls," Ruka replied sarcastically. "The same as the others. So just do what you always do. What's so hard about it?"

"It's hard. I could tell." Natsume replied with a low voice, it sounded almost like a whisper. His attention back on her, staring at her with his eyebrows mashed together to form a line.

Ruka's face furrowed. "Wait. You're not serious with her, right?"

"I don't know." Natsume turned to look at him. A soft chuckled escaped his lips. "Funny that I'm not even sure myself."

To be continued.

Reviews on ideas and comments please? With extra cream and cherries on top?


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: obviously I do not Gakuen alice or the characters.

Anyways, happy reading!

_Me anywhere I go: I hope I don't see anyone I know._

_-twitter_

" Mikan, can you take orders from table 7 please?" Nonoko asked politely.

Mikan looked at the customers who occupied the said table and she scowled in response. They were two people. She didn't have any problem with the blonde one. Actually, she found him rather fetching. He looked cute and decent at the same time. But his friend, she frowned. It's like that guy had crawled out of hell this summer just to torture her.

And why did they have to come so freaking early? Mikan and Nonoko just arrived at the café for five minutes and those two already raid this place, walking in through the door like they freaking owned the place. They didn't have time to set up the entire place yet to begin the day! The windows were still closed and the person who responsible for the menu had not even arrived yet!

"Can Sumirei take their orders instead? I think she'll be more than glad _to save me_," Mikan replied, face scowled.

Heck, she thought Sumirei would exchange her with anything to just linger around the two guys even for just a mere minute. Don't get her wrong. Mikan didn't really have any problem with Shouda. She had been good to her and she treated her nice too. She got all she could ask for. The least Mikan wanted between her co-workers was ridiculous girl cat-fight. And so far, it was none. She was grateful for that.

But… Well.. Sumirei was still like any other normal girls..with crush…ludicrous crush, if Mikan had to say. And Mikan didn't particularly liked that crush whom she's crushing on.

Nonoko laughed. "Sumirei is running late again. Come one Mikan, they aren't that bad." Mikan rolled her eyes at that. Yes, Ruka Nogi wasn't in her top death list but his best friend was! Oohh how she wished she could claw that smug face of that buffoon. They're not that bad; easy for her to say. Nonoko went to school with them, though she really could not confirm if they're friends with each other or not but she thought they were, seeing that those two knew her names, and the rest of her co-workers. They're friends with each other maybe, but probably not really close acquaintances. She wasn't particularly surprised.

Nonoko continued, "And Nogi and Hyuuga have been really good customers so far. Remember, every time they come, our interest increased by 10 percent. They pay good money to us. Just from those two alone, we got a lot. "

Mikan sighed. "Point taken. They pay money. Fine." She dragged her feet lazily, making her way towards the said table.

"Hello, good morning and welcome, Nogi-san," she smiled and when she turned her attention to the other lad, she scowled. "And merry hellish moment and obviously not welcome to you, uninvited-and-I'm-forever-grateful-if-you-do-not-c ome customer."

Ruka fought the urge to stifle a laugh so he cleared up his throat to cover it up. "Sorry we come barging in early this morning. I see you have not properly opened up yet."

"We just arrived. It'll take approximately 15 to 30 minutes for us to set up the place to start the day. Would you like me to take your order now? But you have to wait probably half an hour or more since the person in charge of the menus still had not arrived yet. We just open, that is."

Ruka shrugged. "I didn't really mind with either one. Natsume?"

Natsume looked outside the window. "hn, whatever."

Mikan gritted her teeth at his short and indifferent answer. But she kept her patience in rail. "Then, I'll come and get you orders later. Meanwhile, we'll be serving you some complimentary tea while you wait."

She made her way to the back and made some Mint tea. Pour it into two Chinese ceramic cups and placed them on a tray. She took them outside and carefully placed each cups on the table in front of the lads.

"What's this?" Natsume asked as he took of his shades, revealing a pair of alluring crimson eyes.

"Mint tea, our specialty," Mikan replied before turning and walked away to do her part of work opening up the rest of the café.

They silently watched as the girls did their work, opening up the rest of the café. Ogasawara opened the windows while Sakura wiped the floor. One moment later, she was wiping the tables and the counter while the other girl had disappeared somewhere to the back.

Natsume and Ruka's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets when they saw her climbed the window panes to wipe the upper windows on the high wall. They knew they should feel worried for her safety but they couldn't help but felt amazed. When she was done, she swiftly jumped down on the floor with a low thud.

The bell chimed as a pink haired girl rushed in, panting.

"Sorry I'm late!" she apologized, face looking flushed. She walked down the aisle and continued on rambling. "I was having a hard time getting out of the train. I thought I was big enough but I couldn't even squeeze myself out from the crowd. Honestly, kids smaller than me would die out of suffocation inside there—"

Her words halted when her eyes saw two persons sat at one of the tables at the far corner of the café, next to a window. She blushed. "Sorry, I didn't realize we already have customers at this early of time."

The two nodded in understatement.

Mikan stood beside Anna and put her one arm around her shoulder as she leaned closer to whisper close to her ear. "I'm really glad you finally come. Honestly, I don't think Mint tea would last long for that black haired devil. Do you have any chemical potion to put into his soup that I could serve him?"

Anno laughed and playfully smacked Mikan's arm. "Mikan, that's mean. He could die."

"More the reasons why we should do it." She tugged the end of Anna's shirt. "And besides, I don't like him. He's a pervert Lucifer."

Anna chuckled and shook her head at Mikan's cute whining. It was obvious to all of them that she hated him. How couldn't they not know? The girl had been cursing a lot at him behind his back. And whenever they met, they always ended up hurling words at each other.

Mikan whined louder when Anna ignored her and disappeared off to the back to change and began her work. "Anna, that's mean! You're ignoring me!" she whined and stomped her feet before followed the pink haired girl to the back.

Natsume's lips let out a soft chuckle. 'That's cute,' he thought as he took another sip of the mint tea.

Just in half an hour, they already got the café readied for business. The café looked as clean and welcoming as ever. The morning light began to shine in through the windows. Fresh air momentarily lingered in the air before it was replaced with a sweet scent of coffee and pastries. Nonoko had replaced the water and crysantimun flower at the counter with new ones. Anna began to load the cakes and other pastries in the display section near the counter.

Moments later, Mikan came out from the back; a note and a pen were seen in her hands. She came to the lads' table.

"Are you ready to order now?" she asked them.

The bell chimed again, indicating another customer had walked in. Mikan did not turn around. She knew Nonoko was already behind the counter to attend to the customer's need so she would just focus on her part of work.

At the other side of the café, a raven haired girl; wearing a crop green shirt matched with a pair of white cropped short jeans and a pair of sandals, walked in and headed towards the counter. Her beguiling purple eyes looked at the girl behind the counter with a steady gaze.

The blue haired girl was jolted with surprised when she saw who it was. She knew the girl, not really like really _knew_ her but she knew who she was. She was one of her schoolmates. They weren't in the same class so she didn't really know much about her. But people talked, and she listened most of the time. and it was impossible not to know her name and ignore her presence as she was one of the most commonly discussed topic the kids had at school, well, besides Ruka Nogi and Natsume Hyuuga.

"Yes, may I help you?" Nonoko beamed, trying to keep it formal yet casual.

"Is a girl named Mikan work here?" she asked with a monotone voice. Her face was total expressionless.

Nonoko blinked her eyes rapidly, surprised of her sudden question. She thought the girl would place an order instead of asking for someone. " Mikan? Mikan Sakura? Yes, we have a girl named Mikan Sakura works here."

Nonoko realized the girl's purple eyes twitched in response when she mentioned Sakura. She looked curiously at her before pointing one slender finger at the left side of the café to a dark haired girl, holding a note pad and a pen.

" Mikan, there's someone here looking for you!" she called out.

The said girl turned around from her attention on the lads with a smile plastered on her face. She was about to answer "yes?" when she saw whom Nonoko was with.

Almost immediately, her hands fell to her sides. She staggered back a step. Her eyes bulged and her mouth was wide opened with shock mixed with horrified. Her black eyes met the girl's cold purple gaze. She gulped.

"H-Ho-Hotaru?" her voice choked.

To be continued.

Reviews please? With cherries and whipped cream and strawberries and chocolates on top? _Gosh, I sound so desperate!_ Haha.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: obviously I do not Gakuen alice or the characters.

Anyways, happy reading!

_I'm simultaneously the nicest and meanest person you'll ever meet._

_-twitter_

"Seriously Mikan, if you don't take that ridiculous things off, I'm really gonna shoot you for real," Hotaru said coldly as she fixed her gun directly on her friend's forehead.

Mikan, knowing Hotaru for too long, knew every words came from her mouth were true. She could bet her life on it. Hotaru would never said anything if she didn't mean it. Well, minus the part where she usually would just critic her with sarcastic comments and teased her but those were different. Mikan would know how to differentiate her every word. But this time, she knew Hotaru was serious. Her best friend did not have time to really bother to play around if it's not serious.

Mikan gripped her hair and frantically shook her head.

The room had gone silent. Due the sudden commotion, Anna had flipped the sign on the café's door to CLOSED. It was never in her days that she would felt more than grateful that no other customers yet to come.

She was back in the kitchen when it all happened. Suddenly, Nonoko came rushing to the back, her hands practically wailing in the air, frantically telling her to quickly come to the front. When they came to the front, their eyes met with a scene where a slightly familiar looking girl she saw at school was aiming something that looked like a gun at one of her employees. Her eyes went wide.

The rest of the scene slowly drowned her. Nogi and Hyuuga too were in slightly shock state. They both had been standing a few feet away behind Mikan. Everyone else was still oblivious of what really happened.

Hotaru sighed and one of her fingers started to slowly pull the trigger. Seeing that, Natsume, totally forgot to control his macho-ness, nearly shouted, telling her to stop. Of course, that's when he thought—and so did everyone else beside the main attractions of the scene—that what the girl was holding was an actual gun. He thought he was too late.

The next thing they realized, a loud shooting sound was heard and Mikan's head was lolled to the back. A rubber ball came bouncing on the floor until it stopped and rolled on the floor. With horror eyes, Natsume and the rest stared at the little red thing now immobilized on the floor. Every each of them sighed in relief when they realized it wasn't an actual bullet. Hotaru blew the smoke coming from the tip of her gun. Her gaze went to the brunette.

"I'll give you more if you still refused to take them off," she said threateningly.

Mikan scrubbed her now reddened forehead and whined at how much painful it was. When her small fingers felt a little bump on the supposed to be flat surface of her forehead, she glared at Hotaru.

"Now look what you had done, baka Hotaru! I had my reasons too, you know. It's not like I do this without an acceptable reason!" Mikan shot.

The crowd's eyes became big. It was a shock that Mikan called the raven haired girl by her first name but what sent their souls off from their bodies was when they heard she called her baka? First, all the time they were schoolmates, none of them called Imai by her first name and second, no one dared to mess with her. Let alone call her a baka. The Imai family itself was a renowned one, known for astounding achievements in the medic world along with their extreme capabilities in inventing machines to be used in the hospitals and labs and such. People looked up to the Imais. But Hotaru Imai alone was terrifying. She did not need her family name to make people realized how fearsome she was.

But, really. What in the world really happened here?!

"I don't give a damn about your reasons. You're going to get both of us into trouble. Take. Them. Off. Now. "

'Take what off?' each of them thought in their heads. They started to imagine things and quickly shook their heads, feeling embarrass.

Mikan smiled teasingly. "Or what Hotaru? Are you going to shoot me again with that gun? I'll bet my skin would be immune already." She continued rubbing the swollen bump which the pain had slowly ceased. "Haven't you heard, 'once bitten twice shy'?"

Hotaru smirked. She slid the gun back into her backpack and took out another one. It was bigger than the previous one and even her hands looked so small when holding it. Mikan gulped as the gun appeared before her eyes. It was twice the size and she bet the pain would be twice as painful as well. Theheck!? Not only her forehead, her entire skull would already be cracked by then!

Mikan cleared her throat, her eyes not leaving the gun. "Hotaru, tell me you're not serious on wanting to shoot me with that devil."

"You never know, Mikan," she answered in a monotone voice.

"But Hotaru, I could finally have the chance to do this on my own, you should at least be a bit supportive!" Mikan whined.

Hotaru sighed and put the gun on her shoulder. "Seriously, I went to Tokyo for a week and when I came back, I was told you flee? Thehell do you think I should do?"

A small smile crept on her lips. She played with her forefingers as she spoke. "Technically, I didn't run away. I'm planning on returning back home after summer ends. And besides, why do you think Kiyo Obaa-san let me if I didn't promise him to come back?"

"Mikan, even if your parents are far away in Canada right now, if they know, what do you think would be the aftermath? Not only you could get grounded, that Kiyo old man too would get sacked! So will the entire staff! " Hotaru exclaimed.

"But Hotaruuuuu.. They won't know if no one tells. Please, I'll do whatever you want if you just let me do this until summer ends. It's not always otoo-san and okaa-san went to a long business trip. Please Hotaruuuuu. Just this once," she whined at the girl, tugging at the end of her green shirt, pleading.

Hotaru looked at her best friend and her face softened. She may be cold but she always had a soft spot for this little girl and she couldn't help from kept giving in to everything she wanted. She sighed. "Fine. Just do whatever you want. As long as you come back after summer ends."

Mikan ecstatically clapped her hands and jumped in glee. She pulled Hotaru in a bear hug. "Thanks Hotaru! You're the best!"

Hotaru cleared her throat. "In one condition; you have to take them off first. Your disguise made me feel disgusted."

Mikan pulled away. She frantically shook her head.

"Okay then, you are coming home with me right now. Fullstop." Hotaru's stern voice came.

When she looked at Mikan's pouted face, she smirked. "I gave you a deal. Take it or leave it. Take it, you can spend the rest of your summer here if only you take those stupid things off or leave it, you can wear that stupid get up and you're returning home with me right this instant. Your call." Hotaru crossed her arms on her chest.

Mikan sighed in defeat. It didn't matter either way, Hotaru still going to win this. As much as she hated it, it's her gain this time. But she bloody wanted to keep this job and enjoy this summer while she can without having to bother to look behind her shoulders to those responsibilities. Hence of what she's about to do.

Slowly, her hands went to her hair. She closed her eyes, not really wanting to do it. But a deal is a deal. With a tug and a pull, a lump of the long dark hair that supposed to stay on her head, fell on the floor. She pulled off the hair net she was wearing under the wig and her brunette silky hair came falling down, trailing behind her back as it reached her waist. There was a blue highlight on her hair. Her long bangs framed her face superbly.

"Your lens?" Hotaru reminded her.

Mikan sighed again. Opening her eyes wide, she peeled off the lens from her eyes, revealing a pair of appealing big brown eyes.

The rest of the people in the room stared at her in awe. Sumirei, who had just arrived and walked through the door, happened to just watch she took them off at the precise moment. Her hand flew to cover her agape mouth.

Mikan handed Hotaru the lenses and Hotaru picked up the wig. She looked at the jumble of things on her hands. "I'm going to burn these things to make sure you won't use them again."

She turned around and headed for the door. She turned to give Mikan a final look. "I'll come again whenever I have the chance. Just make sure to stay out of trouble. If you get yourself in hot soup again, I'll tie you up and drag you home myself."

She cast a glance on the two lads standing motionlessly behind Mikan. " Hyuuga, Nogi." She curt a nod and they returned it back with nods of their own, feeling a bit loss.

The bell chimed as she disappeared through the door.

"Dammit Hotaru. Now you just ruined everything." Mikan sighed. She spun around and cursed under her breath when she saw the look on her co-workers and the two lads.

Drag it. She owned them an explanation. But no way in hell would she tell what's really going on. 'I'm going to blow up your lab for this, Hotaru,' she thought angrily as she tried to plaster an apologetic smile on her face to her co-workers.

To be continued.

Any reviews?


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: obviously I do not Gakuen alice or the characters.

A/N: I read the reviews you left me (Duh, I always read whatever you post me.) And honestly, I don't know whether to laugh or thank you guys cuz I found some of the reviews so cute. Hm, well, reviews made me happy so when I'm happy, I usually update faster. So, yeah, I love reviews, you could say like that. Haha. Thank you for reviewing! I'll give you my share of cakes with cherries and blueberries on top if I could!

Anyways, happy reading!

_I keep telling to myself: if you wanted to talk to me, you would._

_-twitter_

Mikan squirmed in her seat. She was sitting on a chair in the middle of the cafe, both legs pressed close to each other, her palms on her thighs. Her co-workers and unfortunately, the two lads as well, were surrounding her. Sometimes, she thought the feeling of being called to the principal's office might be just a bit better than what she felt right now.

Seriously, how long would this kept on going?

"So, you're not telling us any more than that?" Anna asked her again.

They had been interrogating her for almost half an hour now. All their questions rounded up the same and her answers didn't seem to change every time she was bombarded with them.

"I told you as much as I could tell you. Like what you heard when I told Hotaru, I didn't run from home. I just take this summer as an opportunity to be independent by finding myself a job and stayed out of home. As soon as summer ends, I'll be returning back to my home. I got experience living outside home and I got the money where I earned every penny of it by my own hard work. It's as simple as that," she explained, thinking that it would be her fourth time now doing so.

"Then, what's your connection with Hotaru Imai?" Sumirei's voice came.

Mikan had the urge to roll her eyes. Seriously? She's not discriminating these people's intelligence but she kept on wondering why they asked obvious yet stupid questions. It made her wonder if they had SQS (stupid question syndrome). But still, she answered every each of them.

"Hotaru is my close and best friend."

Not feeling satisfied with the short answer, Sumirei asked Mikan again, eyes looking dubiously at her. "How can you know someone as great as Hotaru Imai? The Imai family is one of the most influential family that—"

"Yeah yeah I know. I'm well informed about that," Mikan cut her off. "I don't really get why you asked me those questions. But still, I do get that you're interested to know. So yeah, I met her in elementary school, I poked her eyes, she broke my arm. She glued my hair, I cut hers. She forced me to eat sand; I shoved the glue stick inside her mouth. Been best friends ever since."

The rest of the people in the room sweat dropped. Whether they thought that was an awesome way yet weird, beginning of ever lasting friendship or decided that those two were just weird to begin with. They decided to gamble and let the luck decided and future tells.

"Your parents in Canada?" Natsume turned to ask. He had been silently listening so far.

Mikan's head spun around to look at him. She cast an annoyed look at him. "Why should I answer to your question?" She paused for a moment. "Why are you here in the first place anyway? You have nothing to do with this."

The corner of Natsume's lips curled up to a drop dead gorgeous smirk as he approached her. When she was just a few inches from him, he leaned down closer to her ears. "Well, I thought you're far more interesting than the ones I play with at home," he whispered to her ears only.

Mikan gritted her teeth. "I bet your dogs threw parties every time you're not at home. I could even bet they despised you as much as I feel like clawing your face right now for being too close to my face. Get away from my face Hyuuga, you're spreading your germs on me."

Natsume pulled back, his eyes glared menacingly at her and Mikan stuck her tongue out in response.

Ruka, realizing that he stifled a chuckle, quickly cover up his mouth. He turned his face away, hiding his smile. Anna, Nonoko and Sumirei to had to fight the urge to laugh. But still, it was so darn funny seeing those two fought with each other. They could not help it so they laughed quietly behind their backs.

"My parents had urgent work so they flew off to Canada. Satisfied Hyuuga?" she asked, glaring at him. She could have ignored his question but oh well, she's not as snobbish and ruthless as him so she answered him still, thinking that it'd be rude if she didn't, even if that question came from someone whom she felt like shooting dead.

"Who are your parents?" Anna asked.

"What kind of question is that? Anna-san, do expect me to give an answer like 'no, they're not humans; they're aliens from Mars'?"

When Anna put her hands on her hips and bulged her eyes out at Mikan, Mikan sighed. "Fine fine. Izumi and Yuka. They're involved in business. Don't ask me what kind of business cause I seriously won't tell." Mikan paused for a moment. Then tilted her head to one side and furrowed. "Or I just really don't know what kind of business they're in. Yeah, the latter."

They all looked suspiciously at her.

"I'm serious! I'm telling the truth!" Mikan yelled in exasperation and stood. She crossed her arms on her chest. "If you think I'm some con-man then, fine, sack me anytime you want."

Nonoko came close and held Mikan's hands firm in hers. Her face softened and on her lips was a smile, a genuine smile.

" Mikan-chan, you're not a con-man. I'm sure of that. I may not know you long but I know you're not one. I don't know how to explain it but I just know. I like having you around. Not only you're a good co-worker, you're also an awesome friend. Of course I trust you."

"Yeah, I'm with Nonoko. I like having you here and it'll be a drag if you're suddenly gone. You're an excellent worker. Better than the three of us combined actually!" Anna laughed. "So whatever it is, I give you my fullest trust Mikan-chan because you too, are my friend now."

"Mine too. I don't get why you're not telling us the whole story—yes, I could tell you're keeping something from us. Duh, it's very obvious," Sumirei rolled her green eyes at Mikan and earned herself a few laughs from the rest of the group.

"But it's your choice. call it free will or whatnot and blah blah, don't expect me to give you a long speech craps here cause as much as I know you hate listen to one, I too hate giving you one. So yeah, I like you too." She paused from a moment. "So stay. I'm not gonna say it twice," Sumirei finished and feigned flipping her not-so-long hair.

Mikan laughed at that and went to her side to give her a bear hug. "Thank you, Sumirei."

She turned to all her co-workers—whom now she could happily address as friends. Friends? Mikan liked the sound of that. She didn't have many friends. Well, she did have a few, and all of them were guys—she didn't find girls fit to be her friends during her young age at that time because she found girls were sooo boring. They cried whenever they got bullied, scream whenever they're mad and glued with color books and color pencils and teddy bears. The only time that changed was when primary school, color books and all that to hand mirrors. Seriously, why did they check themselves in the mirrors every one minute? Puhhhlease, that's so boring.

Boys on the other hand, were so much fun and thrilling, always up to something and they never fail to invite her to tag along. Name anything, climbing the school gate, put thumbtacks on the teacher's seat, throw rocks at the principal's windows, and set the frogs in the lab running loose, etc. Well, you could say she's a little off to the tomboyish side when she's little. Couldn't blame her entirely though. Hotaru had moved when they're 10. she's been hanging out with the boys ever since—but she kept changing schools so much that she didn't contact much with those guys. Hotaru's the only girl friend she had so far and they had been together since elementary. Though Hotaru moved away and she too frequently changed schools, Hotaru never fail to come and visited her, even just for a short one hour before she had to return back to Tokyo.

Mikan could not help but feel the thrill of it. She finally had girl friends besides Hotaru! How awesome was that?! She had been with Hotaru for so long that she knew Anna, Nonoko and Sumirei were so very different than her raven haired friend. But that's okay. She likes the varieties of her new friends. And she could tell Hotaru too would blend well with them. Mikan thought for a while. 'But that may take a while to happen though, since Hotaru is so cold towards other people,' her mind added.

"Thank you too, Anna and Nonoko. Really, hontou ni arigatou," she beamed at them.

The girls ended up hugging each other, giggling and laughing all the while.

On the other hand, the two lads had ceased to the far end of the corner, eyes still glued to the scene.

"Natsume, what you're thinking?" Ruka asked quietly.

"Nothing."

"I doubt it."

Natsume cast him a sideway glance before turning back his attention to the front. "I just think everything suddenly gets interesting. That's all."

Ruka chuckled silently and nodded his head in response. "Yeah, me too."

To be continued.

Any reviews? (Yeah, I'm still shamelessly asking for it. Haha)


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: obviously I do not Gakuen alice or the characters.

Anyways, happy reading!

_I wish I could mute people in real life._

_-twitter_

The days went by normally. Everything had gone to normal. No chaos. No commotion. As just like any other days, today was just as normal as any days could get.

The only thing that different was, today's hot as hell.

It's summer! The brunette got it and she understood all the climate change thingy but seriously, it's scorching hot. If she could, she wanted to tie her body the fan stand every where she went. Ohh, if she could do that, that would be a few minutes of heaven in summer.

Since it's bloody sweltering, she only put on a tank top and paired it up with a three quarter pants and a pair of sneakers. She wore her hair in a high sideway ponytail. Even her hair in that way, she still could feet the heat emitted. Mikan even caught herself sighing a lot on that day and more than just a regular few times she found herself slacking off longer than she should under the fan. Well, she's not the only one though. Sumire too, rushed towards the fan whenever she finished a small job or to, even if it's just finished taking an order from a table or delivered a tray of drinks to a table. After that, you could find her anywhere near a fan.

Anna and Nonoko, well, they had it rough, if she had to say. But! Mikan saluted them for able to hold it in and stand the heat. She didn't hear a single complain from them. But she knew, they hated the bloody heat as much as the rest of them. Even more, maybe. Mikan thought that they might be just too nice to admit it. Or shy, probably. But seriously, who would love summer if the temperature rises like hell? Yeah yeah, when you think of summer, you think of beaches but who would be so dumb to go to the beach if it's this hot? You'll be cooked like a hot dog right before you could get yourself a tan.

Mikan frantically waved her hands to her face like a madman to get some air brushing on it. She sat on a seat near an empty table. They didn't receive a lot of customers today. Just a few married couples and male upperclassmen—probably studying at the universities now, those guys. A large number of their regular customers were not seen at all today. Hate to admit it but that's good. She didn't have to go around so much taking orders and such.

Fewer customers, less work. To be honest, she rather stayed still and glued herself to anything cold. Even the people understand the meaning veiled behind the word 'bloody hot summer'. They stayed at home, do whatever they could to cool themselves off, not going outside to a café just to eat a slice of cake and enjoy a cup of tea while watching the mesmerizing scenery. Heck, even the scenery itself wasn't that appealing at this kind of time. Mikan scowled at that as she glanced out of the window near her.

Meanwhile, at the left side of the café, sat a raven haired guy at his usual spot. This time too, a pair of Marc Jacobs shades was seen on his face. Ogasawara came and placed his order on the table, bowed her head and went to continue her work. Natsume looked at the cup in front of him. That's the fourth cup of coffee now. The hell was he doing right now? He didn't know. Or more likely, he was lost in his own track. He ruffled his hair out of a habit, making it looked even messier than it already was. Not only his hair, his mind too was in mess.

Natsume stared angrily at the guys who sat a few tables ahead of him. If his hands could burn fire right now, he would not hesitate even a mere second to throw them the fire balls. He had been watching. Heck, he had been watching since yesterday! No, ever since she took off her wig and now, with that brunette hair and big brown eyes, he had noticed that more guys come and more guys stared longingly at her. Every time he saw them goggled at her, he felt like tying those guys up with a rope and buried them alive at the Sahara Mountain.

But the thing was, he already warned her. But that idiotic girl was so bloody ignorant to her surrounding that it sometimes pissed him off. Didn't she even realize that she's a girl?!

Flashback.

_Yesterday…_

_The café's closing. Mikan went to the back of the café, with the last tray of empty glasses on her hands. She placed them in the sink and turned around. She squealed in shock when she saw someone stood next to her, leaning casually against the wall. She cursed under her breath, scolding herself for being scared at the sight of someone as him. After she had properly calmed down, she cast an annoyed look at him._

"_What are you doing here, Hyuuga? You're not allowed to be here."_

_Natsume shrugged. "Your friends didn't seem to care that I came here. They're the ones who granted me the permission when I asked them."_

_Mikan's eyes twitched angrily at him. _

"_What do you want? I'm busy," she said as she passed him, heading to the door. Natsume caught her by her wrist and spun her around. "There's hardly any work left outside. What's the rush? Are you scared of being in the same room as me when nobody's around?" he teased._

_Mikan pulled her hand harshly from his grip and faced him. "I'm just scared that your psychotic germs spreading on me. It's a fatal disease, isn't it?"_

_Natsume took a step closer towards her as a response. Another and another and another. His crimson eyes fixedly on her. Mikan, realizing that, began to feel uncomfortable._

"_Stop playing around! What do you want Hyuuga?" she snapped._

"_You're exposing too much skin."_

_Mikan's face furrowed before it changed to a frown. "What are you talking about? You're not making any sense!"_

_With a swift quick movement, he pushed her back to the wall. Both his arms caging her on each side. He leaned down closer to her face as his eyes met hers with a steady gaze. "I'm telling you not to wear that shirt anymore. You're exposing too much skin by wearing that! Do you understand me?"_

_Mikan inched her head a little to the back. She couldn't stand how close their faces were with each other. "Theheck is wrong with you? Why can't I wear one when everybody else is wearing it? Plus, don't you know what the temperature is today? You can't expect me to wear a cover up! I'll die of suffocation and excessive heat!"_

"_I don't care. I just don't want you to wear it."_

"_Why should I listen to you? You're not somebody to me. Heck, you're not even someone worth for me to know. Now, I demand you to free me, Hyuuga."_

_Natsume chuckled dangerously low as he leaned closer to her face. "Funny that you said I'm not even worth to know but still, you called my name." Every word that came out from his lips felt like a breath on Mikan's skin._

_Mikan blushed. Not sure whether it's because of how close their faces were or the fact that she unconsciously called his name. Dammit, she could even smell his cologne now. minty and breezy and a hint of edginess and sexy…. Wait. _

_THEHECK WAS SHE THINKING OF?!_

_Mikan's face flushed more to extreme color of red._

"_Fine fine. Whatever. Just let me go," Mikan said quietly as she looked away, not daring for her eyes to meet with the crimson ones._

_A small smile crept to Natsume's lips as he pulled away._

"_Anything else?" Mikan asked; face still looking the other way._

_Natsume chuckled, looking at how cute her face was when she's blushing. She made it even cuter when she's trying to hide it when it's so obvious to him. He cupped her small face in his large hands and turned her around to face him. It startled her a little but she didn't complain. Rather strange that was. She looked up at him with her big brown eyes._

"_Nothing more, I guess. But listen here, Polka. I'm warning you, if you disobey what I said just now, I will make sure you're going to regret it later on."_

_And with that, he released his hands and walked out through the door. _

End of flashback.

Natsume ran his hand through his messy hair as he looked at her from afar. He silently gritted his teeth when he saw those guys's looking at her again. He's a guy too. He could read the air around them and it told him that they're very very interested in her. Natsume cursed under his breath.

'Dammit Polka. You leave me with no choice. Don't say I didn't warn you,' he thought irritatingly as he ran his hand through his hair.

To be continued.

Any reviews? Reviews make me feel my effort didn't go to waste. So please, with oreo cake and oreo cookies crumb on top?


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own GA or its characters. I just own this plot and the new characters—which soon would come out!

Anyways, happy reading! :3

_How could I get my words reach that small pea size brain of yours _

_to ever make you understand me?_

As soon as Mikan finished her job, she rushed to her apartment. She was bloody tired and her body was all sticky with the sweats. It was already late at night and she's really in need of a good long rest. She quickly headed for the bathroom, stripped off from her clothes, took a cold shower and washed her hair, put on her American flag comfy baggy shirt and a pair of hot pants. She let down her wet hair, not bother to dry them up with the hair blower, thinking that it'd dry itself by the time she climbed up to her bed.

She continued wiping her hair with the towel when she stepped out of the bathroom door, heading for the couch placed in the middle of the living room. It couldn't really be called a living room since it's only consisted of a large black leather couch and a plasma screen TV hanging on the white wall but who cares, this place already felt like mini home to her. Her steps dropped dead halfway when she saw someone else had occupied the couch. Instead of being startled and surprised with shock, she felt furious and annoyed even more.

"What the hell are you doing here, Hyuuga?" she snapped.

Natsume shrugged. "Paying you a visit." He had made himself comfortable by leaning casually against the seat, his both feet on her coffee table and his arms behind his head.

"I doubt it. How the heck did you get inside?!"

He couldn't help but grin. "Oh you don't know? I own this building." He smirked smugly when she sniffed back a breath. "I can get all the access I want, even the lock key to your apartment."

"Oh." She cast a glance to her side out of habit, looking at nothing. She silently cursed under her breath and quickly reminded herself to make a mental note to check who own the place every time she stays at some place.

God, she really wanted to hit him right now. "What do you want? Why are you here?!"

Suddenly, Natsume stood up and slowly made his way towards her with a predatory grace. His crimson eyes had gone all misty. It supposed to look dropped dead seductively gorgeous—and to be honest, they were!—but Mikan found them inclining more towards dangerous right now instead. Every step he took, Mikan pulled back a step. Her towel that she was holding just now too had ended up on the floor. "w-w-what d-do you think you're d-doing?" she stuttered.

Ah crap. Now they're just two people alone in this freaking room.

"If you took another step forward, I swear I'll scream!" she hissed.

"I assure you, if you scream, Polka, you will found yourself waking up on my bed next morning." He warned her seductively. Then, the corner of his lips curled up to a mischief grin as his gaze landed on her curvy body. "Probably with no clothes on."

Her eyes went big. Almost immediately, she bit the inner flesh inside her mouth to shut up, glaring menacingly at him.

Natsume stopped on his tracks when the brunette had gone silent. He arched one of his prefect eyebrows at her. "You do listen. Hm. Strange. Last time I remembered, I warned you not to wear that kind of garment and here you are, wearing one just now."

"If someone asks me not to do something, I'll do it even more," she replied sarcastically. It's true. It's already in her nature. Even her parents were having a hard time to deal with that habit of hers.

"And don't tell me I didn't warn you. I warned you but you're just so stubborn you didn't want to listen. So you leave me with no choice."

"What do you mean by—"

Just before she could finished her words, Natsume came charging so fast she didn't have any time to brace herself. In just a second, everything became a blur to her eyes. It all happened too fast. With a swift yet quick movement, her back was pushed to the wall with her big brown eyes opened wide. He had his solid chiseled body pressed against her, his long muscular legs locked hers and he had her arms pinned on top of her head.

"THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" she started to scream and struggled.

He was taller than her so he brought down his face closer to hers. "You're screaming? Hm. Seems like you really want to end up in my bed that bad hah?" he mocked, his crimson eyes glint with amusement and sarcasm.

"YOU CONCEITED NARCISSIT JERK! I WOULD RATHER DIE BEFORE I LET THAT EVER HAPPEN!" she spat fire to his face, still trying hard to wriggle herself free.

"Well, you're halfway there anyway," he muttered.

Her face furrowed. She was about to demur when she realized when he was doing.

He had pulled her arms down but still, he did not release the firm grip. With one large hand now, his grip on both of her wrists tightened. Mikan tussled and pulled. Blast it all. Even with all her might, she couldn't pull her hands free. And to think that he's only using one hand! What did this man eat, spinach?!

Her eyes flew wider than the size of the golf balls when Natsume began to tug the collar of her shirt down with his other free hand. She was wearing a baggy shirt; the collar was big enough despite her small body size to start with. With just a few tugs, the collar fall off, revealing the soft rosy skin of her left shoulder and a small part of her collarbone and just a tiny part of her cleavage. Despite her urged not to blush in embarrassment, she did. And she began to panic.

"THE HELL HYUUGA!" she screamed again, this time, struggling harder.

But then, that blasted free hand of his slowly travel to her mouth and the next thing she realized, her every words were drowned in a muffle against his large hand on her mouth. She felt a sudden pain on her exposed shoulder and when she tried to move her head to look at her side, her eyes stared widely at the lad who was now bending his head next to hers, his mouth on her shoulder. He was biting her skin. And then, she heard the loud sucking sound. She began to whimper silently.

She struggled harder to free herself but only resulted on her body pressed against his even more and her back almost flat against the wall. And the pain became more painful and unbearable. For the first time facing Natsume Hyuuga in her life, she was shaken and scared.

Natsume intended just to bite a little when he started but when he began to suck, he couldn't help but did it strongly, more than several times than he should on the same spot, insistently as if engraving his desire for monopoly or in his case, engraving his mark on her. He wasn't sure how to do it properly but he read and watch anything he could get from the mass media (he's a hormonal guy too! it's not really a surprised he watched _those things_ right? Haha) and he understood, by doing so, he would be able to leave a much more pronounce mark. The skin that bled internally would develop a bruise. And that's how a **kiss mark** can be made.

He thought of only leaving her one but then again, she would most definitely cover it up with a band aid or something and continued her days, working and wear that crappy tank top again, exposing her skin too much than she should. But if he left her two on her shoulder and even if she covered them up with a band aid, they would still look suspicious to ones eyes.

And since it Polka he's talking about, she would try all her means to avoid the speculation and sudden questions attack especially from her friends. So she would have no choice but to wear a cloth that would cover them up, avoiding them from been seen by other people. Two seemed fine. Three seemed a bit extravagant and desperate. Yeah, two seemed good to him.

After Natsume was done what he really meant to do when he sneaked inside her room, when he pulled away, it finally hit him. The smell finally hit him. _Her smell_. She smelled so sweet with a lil bit of tangerine hint lingering around her and at the same time, so fresh like the beach breeze. And her wet hair, oohhh.. the way she looked right now was damn intoxicating. Natsume's desire started to went wild.

Natsume removed his hand from her mouth. She stood there, stock still; the only sound her breath over her lips. And her eyes never left his face. His fingers suddenly tingled. His body oddly burned. She was close. As close as she'd ever stood to him. Her lips were parted, her eyes were unfocused. He knew she was still shock, he could see the way her mouth was literally hanging down.

But he just couldn't help it.

His hand traveled up her arm until it reached her shoulder, and then one of his fingers traced a feather light line down the side of her neck. His voice, when it came, was low and husky and Mikan felt it right in the very centre of her being.

"Shall we kiss?"

To be continued.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice and the original characters.

Happy reading!

**NATSUME HYUUGA**

"Will you stop grinning?" Ruka told me. "It's freaking me out."

I couldn't help it.

I was damn satisfied.

"You seriously need to find a doctor." Ruka stated. "You know what; I'm going to take you the hospital myself. No. I'm going to _drag_ you there."

I turned to look at him and frowned. "I'm in a good mood here. You could at least be a little bit supportive, Ruka."

"I would if you're not grinning like Satan had given you a sacrifice lamb for your prayers." I was about to retort when he continued, "yeah, you look like that rather than looking like you had won a lottery."

What a bestfriend he is.

I scowled at him. "Tch. Whatever Ruka."

He knew the reason why I acted like this. But being the bestfriend he is, he had to destroy my fun.

I turned my full attention back to look at what I was really looking at just now. More like at _who _I was staring at. Honestly, I was more than satisfied. Everything went just like I had planned. Surely it didn't go _exactly _as planned but heck, I was satisfied enough with just the little outcome I predicted.

Her big hazel eyes met mine and I smirked at that. She was mad at me. No, she was actually freakin' mad. Oh, I definitely liking it.

Last night definitely worth it. Even if I got a little unexpected _prizes_ in return.

"Shall we kiss?"

I didn't wait for her to answer. Instead, I bent down and licked the side of her jawline from her chin up to her left ear. I licked it again before I bit it. I sensed her flinching and then suddenly froze against me but heck, I was on roll. The hormones had started to kick in after all. I was in no hint of stopping. I nibbled on hear earlobe again and found myself tugging at something that felt like an earring to me. when did she even wear one?

As if she finally had gained her composure again, she hissed. "Thehell do you think you're doing, Hyuuga?!"

i pulled my head up and stared at her in the eyes. We were close. My nose touching hers and our lips were so damn close that they barely touched each other. I glanced down at her lips. Damn. Big mistake. Her lips were so full and pouty and—provided that she kept them shut and didn't actually speak or cursed at him—eminently kissable.

Kissable?

I shuddered at the thought. I had dreamt of kissing her before. Heck, I even dreamt of having her under me in bed. But comparing dreams and reality, surely reality did something more. Because assumingly, reality was better since it's real. Every touch, every words, everything was real.

Damn, looking at her lips enough was intoxicating. And I bet kissing her would be entirely different. Like I would likely taking a roll on drugs. Her kiss would be my ecstasy, I bet.

And surely, this was just a desire. My man desire. Nothing more and nothing less. Only purely desire. Right.

There's nothing else but desire.

"What? Do you prefer that I actually kiss you for real?" I asked her. Well, I would really do it for real. Heck, I really would.

"I would prefer you get off me, you perv!" she screamed as she continued to wriggle again.

Call me crazy but weirdly enough her scream sounded somehow nice to my ears. Like it was somehow a relaxing music to my ears instead of a screeching sound that made my ears bleed non-stop.

"Oi, quit it, Polka. I know you want me. You just have to say it and I'll be gladly to give you the pleasure you want." I pulled her arms up and pinned them on top of her again.

"That's bullcrap! You are so full of yourself, Hyuuga. I would rather die young that having you touch me, you bastard!"

I smirked. "Guess what. I already did." I pulled one hand down while the other hand held her hands firmly on top and traced the part where I just licked her with my tongue. "But you seem to forget things so quickly. I need to make you remember again."

This time, instead of going for her side, I lowered my head and came face to face with her neck. God. Hers was long and seductively beautiful. It was like it was calling me to make love to her. And that's what I did.

But rather than kissing and biting, I licked. I felt her shuddered and I smirked at that. "You like that, didn't you?" I asked, my breath came against her neck.

I heard her hissed and cursed under her breath. Not very lady-like, that I had to say. But who cares anyway, she's more interesting that the girls I played with. They say the more she put up a fight, the sweeter the game would get. And I was counting on it.

After all, I was bored. And this was all purely desire.

I pulled away and leveled my face to hers. She was panting. Oh, she definitely liking it. She didn't moan but the way she was blushing mad, I knew she was enjoying this. Probably not as much as me but at least I knew she liked it, even if she tried so bloody hard to deny it.

Oh wait. I still got more.

I leaned closer to her face until we were only inches apart. Her eyes clashed with mine and I was drawn in by those big beautiful eyes. God, these pair of browns would haunt me at night after this. I slowly and torturingly licked her lips with my tongue, leaving a wet trail on it. Damn, they tasted so sweet and devastatingly addictive and wh—

I saw her eyes widen.

And seconds after that I found myself sprawling on my back on the floor, my mouth tasted fresh blood. Damn. I didn't see that coming.

I looked up and saw her glaring daggers at me, fuming with anger.

She hit me with her head and she's the one who was furious now?

Oh right. I just did _that_ to her lips.

A whole rail of insults came out from her mouth. Even words that I thought were extreme enough that I didn't dare to say even as a guy. She was clenching her hands. The knuckles turned almost white. She came close and put one of her feet on top of my chest. She stepped on me hard. For a little girl like her, she did quite a damage.

"Listen here, Hyuuga," she hissed. "You do that again, I would skin you alive. And I don't give a damn about who you are." I felt her eyes traveled down to my crotch. "And that friend of yours down there that you're so proud of would be gone as well." Her foot pressed on my chest again, threatened, "You got that?"

When I didn't answer, she removed her foot and roughly slumped on my chest and pulled up the collar of my shirt. Oddly enough, her butt felt warm on my chest. "Are you deaf? Didn't you hear what I said?" she hissed again.

I smirked, remembering the heat from her butt. "You know what, I always imagined you beneath me in my dreams. Not the other way around. But I must say though, it still intrigues me one way or another."

She hissed again. Seriously, was it in her genes to always hiss at people? With eyes glaring, she released her grip on the collar and as cue; my head met the hard marble ground. Even with my ears, I could hear the loud bang.

"Shit." I shouted. "That hurts, woman." Crap. It bloody hurt. God. More than when she hit me with her head or she pressed her foot on my chest.

She stood up and went for the door. Twisting the doorknob, she opened it. "Get out, Hyuuga."

When I didn't move, she raised her voice higher. "Don't make me say it twice."

It wasn't much of a threat but I shrugged and stood up. I ran a finger to the corner of my mouth where I felt it throbbing. I looked at the red liquid on my finger. Blood. Thought so.

She was tapping her foot impatiently, I noticed. A small smirk appeared on my lips. I made my way to the door. But before I stepped out, I leaned in close to her, she inched backwards, and whispered close to her ear, "If you wear that blasted sleeveless shirt again, believe me woman, don't think I won't dare to repeat what I did to you just now. you could expect something more worse than that though. Most probably."

And with that, I walked out. the last thing I heard was her curse and the slamming of a door. Loud.

I let out a small chuckle as I remembered the entire scene. Oh well, I might went a bit overboard. Those were all meant to taunt her only for her punishment but I guess, the desire inside me couldn't really sit still. With the hormones started to kick in and all that. Oh, being a guy is great.

I leaned back with my arms behind my head and watched her intently. My eyes followed her every moves.

Surprisingly, she actually listened to me. Man, she's one stubborn human. Talk about finally. Or maybe, she was more afraid of what happened last night might actually repeat again rather than really paid her attention to what I said. She was wearing a short sleeve t-shirt. Much better than the blasted sleeveless one where she exposed most of her skin, if I must say. I would really prefer her to wear a long sleeves one so the bastards customers of hers would stop goggling at her skin but I wasn't that cruel to let her die out of suffocation or/and excessive heat. I could be nice too. Sometimes.

"If you grin like that again, Natsume, I swear, soon enough, people around you would say you're Koko's long lost twin." Ruka's voice came again.

My grin immediately died out. That corn head idiot? My brows twitched in annoyance.

Ruka laughed. "Come on, let's get going. That idiot would probably won't stop nagging if we're late. And damn, his nagging is far worse than my grandpa's speech when he's drunk." Ruka clicked his tongue and stood up, ready to leave. "I don't ever want to hear that long crappy speech about time is golden and all that craps ever again. It's a nightmare."

I too, stood up and headed for the door. Ruka went out first, leaving the door chimed when it closed back. I turned my head around and saw a certain brunette stuck her tongue out at me. she must be feeling terrific that I was finally leaving. It was all written clear on her face. I smirked and licked my lips, making sure she saw it clearly with her eyes. she yelped and dashed for the back kitchen. I stifled a laugh and headed outside.

She's far easier to tease than threaten.

That intrigued me more.

To be continued.

Reviews?


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: As usual, like what I had been telling since the first chappie, GA is not mine. Neither are the characters. I just own this plot I'm writing and the new characters.

Enjoy reading!

* * *

"You know what, screw them!" A certain brunette raised her voice higher in frustration. A tall glass with colorless fluids glued to her one hand as she raised it high to the air. "Do you hear me? I said screw them!" she yelled again.

The middle-aged man in front of her threw her a sideway glance. The place was loud enough from the start with the loud music blaring at the back but still with this lady close at hearing distance, to his dismay, he could still hear her every words, _her every complaints_. It didn't matter if she's shouting or not above the loud noise, no one going to pay her any mind about it—since they were pretty much busy on the dance floor—but only him; well, now that this customer of his was disturbing him from doing his work.

She was alone, he noticed. Of course he did notice, she was glued to her seat, kept on ordering and drinking drinks for almost two hours now. The one he's serving her right now was her thirteenth glass presumably. He was surprised that she was not yet drunk when she had gobbled down the fifth glass. The chit had high tolerance towards alcohol, he assumed. It took her to her eleventh glass that she finally looses her senses, he realized. She looked young, very young. Thus, it made him wondered how on earth she could manage to pass the guards and get herself inside the club. But then again, she's a paying customer. His boss didn't say anything about it either—or possibly, his boss didn't even realized they had a minor inside the club—so he decided to keep his mouth shut and not let he loose his job.

She was mumbling now. He doubted she even realized she was doing it.

"I'm telling you, those two are the devils from hell itself. And that guy, that blasted guy who acts all high and mighty with that star tattooed on his face, ugh, not sure if he's worse than those two or not but certainly his level is beyond than average."

But surprisingly, she didn't slurred like usual drunkards do. He was confirmed that she was drunk, seeing that now she was mumbling and complaining about incoherent things and lots of ridiculous things that he himself couldn't not make head or tail almost, no, not almost, but all of them. To top if of, one time she was talking and mumbling and _complaining God knows what_ and the other time she was silent all of a sudden, staring at all of her empty glasses before her eyes or lost in her thought as she found the ceiling more interesting instead.

"Hey, which do you think is better? Banana or apple?" she lazily asked him out of nowhere. Without waiting for a return answer—not sure if she even wanted one—she spoke, "I personally think banana taste better but often I think people who eat it are monkeys. Monkeys and humans are different right? But why do they say we're the same? I mean, why do they make a statement such as humans first came from that breed? Eh wait. It was _apes_, wasn't it? Not monkey. They said apes and humans…."

Another mumble of useless crap. Again.

His brows twitched annoyingly when he felt something light hit his head at the side and it then happened to land on the counter, rolling till it stopped directly in front of him.

A lump of paper. Figures.

He snapped his attention to the chit.

She wasn't realized what she was doing, again, he noticed. She was drawing something on a piece of paper. Doodling might sound more convincing, now that she's drunk. A whole load of crumpled papers were already scattered around her at the counter. Cursing lightly, she crumpled another perfectly fine paper and unconsciously threw the lump _at him_.

He scowled at that. Now he's debating whether she's really drunk or was she simply just loosing her mind because no way her aim could be _that perfect_.

"Hey Mister Bartender! Look! Lookie lookie!" she called out, grinning widely, waving a paper she was holding at him.

Yep, she's drunk. And that's final.

He knew he didn't have to but curiosity beat him to it so he peered at what she was doing still. Or more like, what was she doodling.

On the paper were some drawings. Human sticks, he realized amusingly, with tails and horns. Devils, he thought. And they were holding something that looked like…forks. Eh wait? Seriously? He peered closer. Yep. Definitely forks for real. Devils with forks? Now that's something interesting and amusing you didn't see everyday.

"Honestly, I'm their daughter! How could they do that to me!" she continued on rambling to no one in particular. "Eh wait, no. Actually, I'm his daughter," she said, pointing to one human stick which looked the same like all the others she was doodling. "But now that he's married again, I guess I'm hers too now," she said oddly. "Wow, that's weird. And eww, gross." She paused. "This is fun! I need to draw more."

Her hand reached for another paper and when she realized she had no longer had any, she scowled. "Ah crap. Now I'm running out of those. This is not fun anymore."

And where did she get all the papers from the fist place anyways?

She gave him a sideway glance and pouted. "You're not helping me at all."

Was he even supposed to?

The man frowned. He was supposed to do his work. Not baby sit a little girl. His frown grew deeper.

The kid should not be here in the first place.

* * *

He had not thought he would find her there. Damnest all, he had searched for her everywhere! High and low, very crook and cranny of the places he could possibly think of! He even went such lengths as calling in Imai to ask about her whereabouts but the girl just slammed her door shut to his face and the next day he was informed, she was nowhere to be found, just like that idiot Polka. But what boiled him more was, his PI couldn't even trace her! He called the best of the best in that field but nothing good came out.

But here she was, just when he was about to give up, she magically appeared. Out of nowhere.

Now he's pissed. He ought to, shouldn't he? After all, he nearly loose his mind and yet, here she was, perfectly fine, acting like life is peachy and all that.

She was clad in a silk white strapless evening dress that ended slightly above her knees. She had one leg crossed the other as she sat on the chair at the counter, staring at something inside her glass. God, did he ever realized how nice her long silky legs were? Just imagined those wrapping around his waist was driving him wild.

He wanted to storm across the room right that instant and grabbed her by the arms and hauled her up, gave her shoulders a strong shake and her mind a long lecture of her disappearance act before dragged her to a room and do God knows what. But he stood still, doubting his actions would do any good even if he bloody wanted to do it.

He stood there for almost half an hour. The blaring of the most horrible music he ever heard of and the glances that people around the club started giving him, didn't managed to bother him one bit. He was still pondering on what to do or _what to say_ when he reached her side. All this while, she was torturing him. Even without her presence, she was torturing him. Not having her around was torturing him. Coming to the café and not seeing her there was torturing him. Not hearing her voice was torturing him. He was used to her voice. Even if all they ever conversed with ever since they met was none other than bickering. At that time, when desperation came in, he even wished he could hear her cursed at him. _Even to that extent_.

But right now, seeing her with his own two eyes, he had not known of what to do.

His mind was blank. All of a sudden.

And that startled him.

He was never like this. Hell sure he wasn't. For a mere girl, he had become this weak? This loose? All of this was just desire towards her. He had confirmed it before. If it was, then it didn't make any sense on why he went to such lengths in finding her. He could have just found other girls and bed them. Any one of them would be more than thrilled to get in bed with him. Why wasting his time on a girl that he was sure going to reject him completely.

Honestly, even he could not understand any of that. The whys. He could not find answers.

When he saw her grabbing the collar of the poor man, the bartender, he assumed, unconsciously, his feet moved forward and in a second, he was already crossing the room. Without having the slightest idea of what to do after he had successfully reached her side.

* * *

The brunette played with the empty glass, twirling it around on the counter with her fingers while one arm rested on the counter, propping her head up.

"Hey, get me another one of these. They taste so yummy!" she exclaimed, pointing to the glasses gathered on the counter.

Right that moment, her phone, which had been placed on the counter as well, next to her dozens of empty glasses, rang. She stared at it for awhile, leaving it rang for almost a minute before her one hand reached out and with one finger, she touched on the screen and swiftly slide it across before pressing it close to her ear.

"Talk to me." She mumbled on through the speaker.

"Mikan! What the hell?! And now you just pick up? I had been calling you for God knows how many times now!" A masculine voice came from the other line.

"Such language you're using," she pointed out sarcastically.

"Don't start on me with the blasphemy, Mikan. Where the heck are you?"

To be continued.

* * *

A/N: in next chappie or probably another or another chappie after the next one, I would focus on the flashback; on what really happen here. The search Natsume undergoes, Mikan disappears and Hotaru vanishes and all that. The flashback won't be long since I will be just explaining what really had happened that they ended up meeting at that _place _in this chappie.

Btw, guess what _place_ that I used in this chappie!

And uh, anyone wants a little bit of future lemon? Just asking. I might put one. Or a few. Fufufufu.


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